Meet Redde Michaels - dipity Community Spotlight Q&A Interview no. 17

learn more about writer Redde Michaels' work through dipity's global interview monthly spotlight feature

Jul 31, 2024

Introduction

Redde Michaels is a mid-life crisis student at SNHU pursuing her Bachelor’s in Creative Writing and English. Raised on highway radio as a nomadic hermit, she currently hides in her urban cottage while playing semantics with her mind. Her work has been recognized by Factory Obscura, In Parentheses, and Dipity.

The Call of the Void

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A weakness flaunted in a coil of rope
haunting in its appeal – a wick dipping
my hands in wax – stretching
           beckoning

Before my eyes – flutters of light
trace veins within the wings
behind silver whispers – threads of venom
glinting lies disguise
         Its carrion leer

The bite emblazons my heart
beating a disfigured tattoo – a bodhrán
tempering my soul – rending
       Its guttural tongue

from the crater – I rise
screaming bolts of black opal
iridescence – invoking my source of creation
a choir of dissonant harmony
      in the House of the Sun

On the edge of the earth
It beckons still – the fossil of my rage
a contorted tree of glass – rooted
       reaching

Q: What is the backstory of this poem?

This poem is unwilling to settle or be content with its form, but I believe in it. I believe because what is imbued in the ink that gave it life also gave me my name. I am not the quiet newborn with some ancestral reverence, I am who I am becoming: she who battles against and dances with a dark twin. Their willing confinement long ago compelled me to honor them by taking up their name for life. I am both triumphant and despondent in this poem because to thrive I must rend myself time and again—I have and am overcome with myself.

Q: What were your most recent publications?

I just had my first literary publication! My “Starfield” is in the Summer 2024 Edition of In Parentheses Literary Magazine (Volume 8, Issue 4). Prior to that, a couple of handwritten letters have been incorporated into the local Factory Obscura’s collaborative experiences.

Q: Where can others find more of your work?

My very first literary publication is: In Parentheses’s Summer 2024 Edition.
I have also just begun branching out—much of what I read and create is for school at the moment. I am fond of Copper Canyon Press and my local publisher, Literati Press.

Vanishing Twin - Afternoon X

Q: What else do you do outside of the writing or poetry community? OR What else are you working on or excited about in the future? Any fun hobbies?

I am currently the Training Coordinator for Hertz. Also, I am renovating part of my house to be a new office/workshop/personal library where I can do everything from playing with wax to working with leather (or maybe even exercising) when I have writer’s block. Also for future polyjam sessions of Miyavi, Hollywood Undead, Lalah Hathaway, Yiruma and Polyphia between beta reading and editing for others.

Q: When did you begin writing? OR What or who sparked and inspired your writing journey?

a) I began scribbling on walls at the age of...
b) This particular journey began with Shakespeare. By that, I mean I chose to have a concentration in Poetry at SNHU so I could avoid taking a Shakespeare class. My first workshop reignited something I had not even realized was buried under decades of soot and I have come to want to protect the flame no matter how much it burns me. In my larger journey to change careers and become a (professional) editor, I ended up taking the scenic route—affording me opportunities to reflect, inspect and practice capturing my metaphoric mentalese without killing it. While I would love to be known, it is enough for me to share and (hopefully) be shared.

Q: What advice would you give aspiring poets, authors, or fellow writers in the community?

I do this on a weekly basis and hope to do it for life in my profession, so thank you for asking! Most often, I remind writers to see with their senses—to see the image or scene and consider what it feels like or what it smells like, what it reminds them (the first thing that comes to mind and follow it to something bizarre) or how it makes them feel physically. If they can focus on making that image/scene come to life with their whole being, then it will be fit for a piece of their soul to thrive within and be shared. There is no need to dilute the imagination; “writing what you know” means you do not need to validate what you see or justify who you are—accept your audacity and hone it to a scalpel’s edge so that it can cut to the core of a reader regardless of their understanding why.

Q: What book(s) would you recommend to others?

I am still reading Bees—Gabaldon’s 10th Outlander book: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (2021). I am still an obsesennach, but I had to go through withdrawal when I began school three years ago. I also recently read Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things (2015) by Jenny Lawson that I absolutely loved! Highly recommend her books—she is hysterical and you really don’t know if she’s being completely honest or fibbing. I choose to believe everything.

Q: What was the last movie or TV show you watched or recommend others see in the community?

I have a running list of “soaps,” as my husband calls them, on Netflix—Asian dramas and true crime. Highly recommend Amidst a Snowstorm of Love (2024).

Q: Which poets, artists, or writers inspire you?

I feel like this cliché, but I am always drawn back to Maya Angelou. I also admire Ocean Vuong, Joy Harjo, Billy Collins, various philosophers, as well as many fiction authors, lyricists and script writers.

Q: If you were stuck on the moon with anyone or could pick your space flight partner, who would it be?

Don’t put me on screen—I would rather be stuck on the moon with Anaxagoras in exile.

Lexie Liu - 佳人

Q: What's one of your favorite poems in existence?

I always draw a blank when asked for my favorite anything... I’m going to list two: “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou and “Perhaps the World Ends Here” by Joy Harjo.

To Check Out More of Redde Michaels’ Work

Circle back to some of her work mentioned and linked throughout this Q&A.

Please Def Follow:

@the1redde

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Any other thoughts, comments, or shares after reading the interview?

[Interview Processed By VFORROW]

Thank you so much, Redde Michaels, for sharing and submitting to Dipity Lit Mag! ~ Jazz Marie Kaur (Vevna Forrow).

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